The present invention generally relates to fabrication methods and resulting structures for semiconductor devices. More specifically, the present invention relates to surface treatment of titanium-containing hardmasks and compositions for improving organic layer adhesion on titanium-containing hardmasks.
Surface treatments are known in semiconductor manufacture to improve adhesion of an organic layer to an underlying titanium containing hardmask. For example, titanium oxide surfaces can be treated with hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) to improve adhesion of an organic layer coated thereon but has had limited success as lift off and adhesion failure is often observed. Additionally, organic underlayers such as a bottom antireflective coatings (BARC) have been utilized as an adhesion promoter. However, the use of BARCs can complicate stack patterning as the BARC needs to be selectively opened relative to the photoresist.